Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has blamed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for delays in reaching a consensus on the government formation in center.
He also accused the PMLN’s talks committee of showing non-seriousness and said that the PPP would not change its stance over its refusal to join the federal cabinet.
“If I have to vote for PML-N, I will do it on my terms, and not on their terms. The delay [in government formation] is due to the non-seriousness of the [PML-N] dialogues committee,” he told media outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday where he appeared in the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto case.
A day earlier, committees of both parties met for the fifth time, only to leave without significant agreement. The two sides had two separate sittings at Ishaq Dar’s residence in Islamabad’s minister’s enclave on Tuesday.
Details of the talks leaked to the media suggest that the PPP is not willing to join the federal cabinet though it is ready to vote for the PMLN candidate for the prime minister slot.
Responding to a question regarding his alleged meeting with the establishment, he said that claims were made about such meetings without proof and evidence.
Zardari said that the people did not give a clear mandate to one party to form government in the centre.
“The message in it is that a party cannot run the country. All parties will have to work together for legislation,” he added.
According to him, the parties will have to give and take if they decide to form a coalition government. “All political parties will have to make a consensus to protect democracy and parliament.”
On delays in government formation, the former foreign minister said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was “technically the single largest party.”
However, Zardari lamented that the former ruling party is not ready to talk with other political parties.